(Closed) Scared Staffie = Bored Staffie! Any ideas?

Hey guys, I have an 8 month old Staffie who is SO scared of everything, we don’t know why, she has been with us since 8 weeks old and has never been mistreated or spooked by anything in particular. Anyhow, because she is so scared, she won’t play with any toys, we have tried soft toys, kongs filled with treats, rope toys AND she has a little maltese/shih tzu friend. Therefore she gets bored and has recently discovered she can jump the fence (unusual for a pup who is scared of the flyscreen! Any ideas how to entertain such a scared dog?

@beeintraining: It’s strange, she’s so well socialised, and she does love to go to the dog park and play….she’s plays nicely but is very submissive to the other dogs, she’s the first to roll onto her back and surrender in a play-fight. Maybe some more positive reinforcement would help, but its hard because she wont even go near a toy! The bead curtains in the doorway…she’s slowly starting to follow our other dog through, but wont go by herself. lol. If the fly-screen is half-way open but she has to touch it to open a bit further, she wont! lol She will just sit and wait until someone pushes it open further for her. She’s quite obedient, althoguh she does struggle when she gets excited! lol.

@AlmostMrsShield: Hi! I think 8 months is kind of a weird phase for dogs- I know my dog totally went bonkers from about 8 mo to 14 mo- they call it an adolescent phase…She may grow out of it, especially if she has another dog to help guide her and show her how to do things?

If she doesnt seem to improve in a month maybe call a trainer who may know some tricks to help her gain confidence. good luck!!

@Boxerlover24: Fantastic, so you’re telling me now I have a 12 year old sister and an 18 year old sister, a 13 year old brother and now an adolescent dog! haha. Could there be any more hormones in my family? Lucky I’ve got to live with the dog! hehe. The problem really arose when my small dog squeezed out of the gate and then Poppy (staffie) couldn’t bare to be alone and discovered that she can jump the fence…that’s her new game! Fiance is in the process of building a thing on top of the fence so when she jumps she’ll hit her head (it’s only soft, its alright!)

How long has she been like that? We got one of our dogs when she was a little under a year from her previous owner. For some reason she’s always been scared as well, when I would throw a ball for her to fetch sh’d rin away. She doesn’t even like being picked up (can you tell which dog from my icon pic I’m talking about? Lol). After nearly a year of trying to play with her she finally ran after a ball :,) though she still won’t go out to the patio unless our other dog goes out with her lol. Agree with pp, I think she was in an awkward phase , & my other dog, though younger, showed her the ropes lol.

@atreyu547: Sounds exactly like my dog! When we play fetch, she will chase my other dog, but not the ball! haha. Mollie (our little dog) is showing her how to act and behave….but somehow she has missed the “you’re in a safe environment” part. lol. We’ve had her since she was 8 weeks old, I don’t know where she got this fear from? I just went and visited a trainer to see if she could help (for $220 a session, I don’t think so! lol) but she said it could just be bad genetics? I definitely agree with @Boxerlover24 though, i think she does have a bit of separation anxiety….for our other dog, not us! haha. But how can we fix that? We only have one backyard!